I arrived in Hong Kong around 11:00pm and after clearing immigration and customs it took another 30 minutes to retrieve my luggage. But now I faced a predicament! I wasn't sure where to go or what to do, as I didn't know if Lindsay had got the message I left him regarding my late arrival from Japan. I got some money converted to HK$ at the airport money exchange bureau, with coins included in order to make a call to Lindsay, but I wasn't able to make a call to a mobile phone from the public telephone (or I probably didn't know how). A crafty taxi operator saw my predicament and came to my assistance, offering to take me to Lindsay's place and promised to use his car phone to contact Lindsay. He offered to take me at a cost of $650 (HK). His manner of approach was a bit suspicious, he didn't seems to be a legitimate taxi operator, however I was desperate to find a way of getting in touch with Lindsay, so I requested to use his mobile phone to call my friend to make sure he is home before I go there and he agreed perhaps confident that I would be his next victim. I contacted Lindsay ( he was home and did get my message) and discretely he confirmed my suspicion that this guy was a rip-off. So I kindly told the rip-off (Bandoolu) taxi driver that I will be taking the train to the Central Station where my friend will be waiting for me. He offered to take me to Central Station for $500 (HK) instead, but I kindly refused since the train would cost only $100 (HK). However, I gave him $50 (HK) the smallest denomination I had, for the use of his mobile phone, then hurriedly moved on to catch the next airport express train to Central Station. The train took about 30 minutes to reach its destination, but I didn't locate Lindsay until around 1:30am, as I had difficulty locating and exiting to the Central Station waiting area. I am thankful that Lindsay is such a patient and easy- going dude! It was a great relief to find Lindsay and to be on the train heading for Lindsay's place:
We reached home around 2:00 am, had a quick bite and a quick chat and went to bed in anticipation for an early rise in the morning. I knew Lindsay from Wellington New Zealand. He has been serving as missionary in Hong Kong for over a year now and was recently appointed as a Circuit Overseer in Hong Kong. He is currently serving the Japanese group. We had to be up early to catch to train to get to the Kingdom Hall where the group was meeting for the ministry. The English Congregation to which the Japanese group is affiliated consists mainly of sisters, over 90% and most of them from the Philippines. Some of them join the ministry with the Japanese group:
I was assigned to work with Tejima, who is originally from Japan but has been living in Hong Kong for many years. We did street witnessing in the market areas, and were looking out for English speakers. We came across some Philippines sisters from another congregation doing street witnessing as well:
The Japanese group organized a yum cha lunch for the CO (Lindsay) at a restaurant close to the Kingdom Hall. I was invited to lunch as well:
After lunch Tejima and I went for a tour around the city. Tejima acted as my tour guide:
After the tour, we had TEA then went to meet the Japanese group at the Kingdom Hall for Book Study conducted by Tejima (elder) and Talk by the Circuit Overseer (translated):
I mentioned previously that over 90% of the English Speaking Cong./Japanese group are made up of sisters. Well they also serve as attendants and operate the sound system:
And training begins at an early age :)
Everyone displayed warmth and friendliness at the meeting:
Friday was another day for meeting with the Japanese group in the ministry and the day I leave for Beijing. Today was a very busy day for Lindsay; ministry in the morning and meetings with elders and ministerial servants in the afternoon. So, it would be much easier to take my luggage to the Kingdom Hall and leave from there to the airport later in the afternoon instead of going back to Lindsay's place. We left home early and had breakfast at a restaurant near the Kingdom Hall before the group met. I was assigned to work in the ministry with Joshua, a Chinese brother who is now serving in the English Cong. The group started out with telephone witnessing:
but Joshua and I went ahead to do witnessing in the park where we met up with Jehu, a young Philippine brother who has returned to Hong Kong for a visit after living here for about 2 years:
Just across from the park was the Hong Kong Central Library. I couldn't resist the urge to have a look inside, so we took a quick self guided tour of the library:
We then met Lindsay in the park and the 4 of us went for lunch:
After lunch, Jehu and I said good bye to Lindsay and Joshua as they had to run off to a meeting. Jehu accompanied me as I collected my bag at the Kingdom Hall and headed for the Central train station where I checked in my luggage at the Cathay Pacific Airline Check In Counter (at the train station). This was a great idea, because this allowed the freedom to spend the remaining few hours doing some final sight seeing with Jehu:
I had an incredible time in Hong Kong, seeing some of the sights I missed out on10 years ago when I first visited the city. Not to mention the wonderful friends I have met here. My journey is coming to and end soon, but certainly not the relationships I have formed with these genuine friends. Now, I am off to my final stop - Beijing! Mark you, I will be on my own, no family, no friends! I wonder what's in store!
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